Take the Stress Out of Moving to Turkey

Published on Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007
Living Abroad » Living in Turkey

Summary: How to move to Turkey lock, stock and barrel as inexpensively and stress-free as possible

If you’ve decided that you’d like to make Turkey your new home then I can’t blame you! It’s a stunning country with an awful lot stacked up in its favour. Those who are moving to Turkey now are well aware that the emergence and development of the nation has only just begun and that they are getting in at the start of a very exciting period of history.

To take the stress out of moving to Turkey here’s our 5 step guide to international relocation success with specific focus on Turkey, navigating Turkish customs and excise, coping with removal companies as well as moving day stress and making your new house a home.

1) As soon as you’re committed to moving to Turkey it’s time to become very rational about your move. Moving is expensive and moving to a country like Turkey is very expensive! As a rough calculation you can expect to pay a few thousand pounds for a small house move from the UK to Turkey if you use a professional removal firm and do all the packing yourself.

You can save money if you self-drive your worldly goods in a van and you can add on far more money if you have a packing and removal service, if you’re moving from further afield or if you’re moving considerable amounts of furniture and household items.

So, the very first thing you need to do is rationalise and realise that most electrical goods and all furniture can all be bought in Turkey for reasonable sums of money; and chances are it will cost you more to ship that old three piece suite than it will to buy a new one – especially if you sell your old one and make a bit of cash before you move.

Therefore, think long and hard about what you have to take and what you can happily leave behind or sell and then decide whether you need a removal company or whether you’re going to do it yourself. Remember that it’s an awfully long drive to Turkey from the UK for example – so look at a map, get some quotes and make a final decision

2) If you do decide to use the services of an international removal company make sure they are reputable, fully bonded with the likes of the British Association of Removers/IMMI or FIDI – FAIM and that they will supply you with a dedicated shipping agent contact so that you can track the passage of your goods from your current location all the way to the door of your new Turkish home.

It is imperative that you have a written contract that states quite categorically that you have paid for a complete door to door service otherwise you could find yourself in the situation where your household items have arrived in Turkey and are now stuck in customs. If this happens you have to sort out their release and then arrange onward passage to your new property in Turkey.

So, get a shipping agent and get it written in the contract that you have a full door to door service.

3) Customs and Excise in Turkey is a nightmare! The seemingly contradictory bureaucracy is enough to drive the most sober person to drink and the most sane person to an asylum…be prepared to hang about and wait for days on end, have all of your documentation - from your residency permit to your bill of lading - translated into Turkish, and have lots of copies of every conceivable document that you might possibly need!

You will probably have to pay tax on the import of certain items such as computer equipment and TVs for example, but used household goods can be imported duty free. The benefit of using a removal company with a shipping agent in Turkey is that you can avoid a great deal of customs and excise stress and get it all handled for you!

Another alternative is to use a Turkish speaking runner to handle all the paperwork for you. These people charge a small amount and take you round all the offices and expedite the whole affair and they can be worth their weight in gold (they can also assist with residency, driving licenses etc.) To find one head to expat bars and ask for recommendations! Single women unfortunately need to be very careful about who they trust.

4) As mentioned previously, certain household items are widely and cheaply available in Turkey and this is worth investigating to help you decide what you want to take with you. Electrical items from your kitchen white goods to TVs and DVD players made by the likes of Beko, Arcelik and Blomberg are all manufactured locally in Turkey before being sold all over the world often under other brand names. This means you can buy such brands cheaply in Turkey.

Turkey also has cheap furniture shops like Ikea and Kelebek – these have many different lines and so you can probably find something that suits your taste. In addition to all this, because Turkey has such a strong textiles manufacturing base everything from curtain material to bed linen can be sourced relatively inexpensively if you shop where the locals shop, haggle and aren’t afraid to bargain hunt.

What all this means is that living in Turkey can be your excuse to furnish your entire new home from scratch! It’ll save on removal costs and if you sell up your old stuff before you move you should have a fair bit in your back pocket to spend on new furniture and furnishings.

5) If you really want to take the stress out of moving to Turkey you really need to put an awful lot of effort into the planning and you need to get your home in Turkey established before you make your move. Once you’ve agreed on a home to rent or you’ve bought a property and seen it through to completion, take a holiday in a hotel or private villa in Turkey prior to your move and get all the utilities and essential services set up and in place, working and ready to go.

When you do move in you will be moving in with home comforts like TV and internet connections and you’ll be moving into a house where the water and the electric just work.

This may sound like madness to you - but if you don’t do this you will have the stress of moving, removals, customs, excise, selling up in the UK, packing, unpacking, flying out and shopping for furniture added on top of moving into a house with no running water and no running electric, you will have to rush about to get everything up and running in a country where you’re regularly told ‘yavas’ (slowly) or ‘yarin’ (tomorrow) – and this will make your first impressions of living in Turkey as a resident bad ones.

So, if at all possible set up one house before leaving another one and enjoy a smooth handover and a smooth transition into your new life in Turkey.

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